My greatest thanks to my friends who never gave up on me. And who tell me off for complaining about Easter Eggs or lack of them.

Anatia: I have and I have emailed you back twice. I like names. I have a thing about them. The longer the better. Though Roman ones always confused me. Four of them.....

Shadow: I was very proud of that line. I don't normally do arsey lines but that one just came. I will try and have Ron and Harry snogging again sometime. Hehehehe, voluntarily or no, that is the question...

Frog: Thank you darling. You're a great help.

Chapter Two

Dark Schemes

Harry looked at the phoenix clock on the mantelpiece. It read ten past seven. His eyes dropped to the floor once more as he resumed his pacing. He got halfway through a stride before changing his mind and storming out the portrait door. He did not look back to see the two knights calling after him in affronted voices.

He was leaning sideways as so to see the Gryffindor common room corridor when he felt something barge into him. He swore loudly at the suit of armour he had bumped so gracefully into. A giggle came from the corridor behind him and he looked up eyes shining with hope.

"Pardon my mirth, Master Potter." Lithliya spoke gracefully in hushed tones. His eyes fell and he looked about annoyed. His hip was aching and would be bruised for the morrow. "Granted I was not the person you were looking for. Would that be Miss Granger?"

Harry looked up startled. "Yes, how did you guess that?" He got an airy laugh in return.

"Shall we walk to the Great Hall together? Undoubtedly being ten minutes late will costs us food and I am sure the people we seek will be able to find their own food." He did not move towards her. He took her in for the first time. Taller than Hermione but still not very tall, finely curving body for a fifteen year old, with dark broody eyes. Breathtaking might be an overstatement. She was not the type that would be seen on a magazine, but the type that might be seen once and never again, lingering in the memory for decades to come.

He cleared his thoughts. "How did you know I was looking for Hermione? Who were, are, you looking for?" He did not move towards nor away from her.

She let out a sigh of small breath. "I was looking for Draco. He stormed out after Parkinson got horny. Thought he might have blown his head off at you. But evidently no. Our deputy heads will be off somewhere merrily conspiring our downfall." Some sense of humour, Harry idly thought as they both moved to walk together by mutual consent.

"I knew it was Granger you were after for," She continued after a minute, "you had the look. All the boys get it these days, after what happened last year. A terrible fear for their little helpless women. Oh, what torture have the dark wizards got in store for them..." She smiled serenely. Harry did not think that an at all smiling matter. They entered the Great Hall. The head girl said no farewell as she disappeared down to where the snakes devoured.

Harry sighed. He had a headache coming on. Hermione was not in the hall still. Nor was Malfoy.

--

Draco smiled. Peace. He was dreaming of peace. Such an alien thing.

A small groan came from somewhere near. He opened his eyes slowly and groaned himself. Brightness. "Fuck me." He muttered, his accent reverting to his father's aristocratic one, which he used at home. Swearing always sounded so much more natural in it.

He felt the warmth leave his shoulder and looked down to see Hermione. His eyes went down her body. Luckily for him (unlucky for her) she was still fully clothed, a sure sign nothing had happened. Luckily for him also she had unbuttoned some of her shirt and he was getting a rather pleasant eyeful... Lovely sight when you wake up.

Her eyes were clouded with sleep and she looked a little dazed and stiff. Awww, how cute. "What?" She asked perplexed in a drowsy, quiet voice. She looked him up and down. "What?" She said again no more awake. Her body collapsed on her and she landed back on Draco, waking him up a bit more. He rolled his eyes. He woke his left arm, the one that was not being used as a bed by the girl, and pushed her off him roughly with it.

She groaned as he rolled over pulling himself up onto all four to examine his new watch. "Oh fuck." He groaned and pulled himself to his feet. He heard Granger's stomach growl. "Food? You hungry?" He kicked her in the ribs lightly. She opened her eyes, shading them and looked and him dazed. She inclined her head marginally. "Well then you'd better get down to the kitchens then better you. There are no house elves there after midnight."

He walked out striding along the darkened corridor like a shadow, his robes billowing out behind him, his shoes long forgotten. He was no longer sleep ridden and stormed directly down to the kitchens. The house elves rushed about him. Dobby was not among them. "Just a light supper" He ordered settling down on a stool. He was naturally given a feast. Dobby came in just as he was about to eat.

"Master Malfoy." The house elf said worriedly examining the lad in front of him. "Is it true?" Draco took a bite out of a roll in front of him whilst watching the house elf still. "That..." The other house elves took the hint and scattered. They were left alone in the kitchen. "That Mr Malfoy has... has ordered to have you killed, sir?"

Draco sighed and gulped down a large amount of water. "Don't know Dobby. He certainly doesn't want me about does he now? Ahh, bastard he always was. Violent and a coward. He'll get his justice at my hand. Things are changing Dobby. Pureblood or mudblood, doesn't matter any more. As long as you can win. Dark Lord's even a mudblood. But you don't want to point that out to him."

"You, sir, living somewhere else, sir?" Dobby asked coming slightly closer.

"I am not the only Slytherin not willing to follow a leader who can be defeated by a one year old boy. I have my supporters."

"You wish to become the next Dark Lord, sir?" Dobby asked, eyes wide.

"Well it wouldn't be a bad idea would it now?" Draco answered and laughed loudly.

--

The night passed into morning, a dull haze of mist creeping in signalling the dying embers of summer were being replaced by the harsh grip of autumn. The wind was whipping round the old castle, creating sounds of screaming ghosts. Draco awoke from his dreamless slumber slowly. His lids flickered up quickly, scanning his room for danger before relaxing back into early morning daze. His eyes gleamed of the far off light from the rising sun that shone through the far off window from his room out into the wide grounds.

His room was the highest in the Slytherin house, showing his rank amongst them. His deputy head status afforded him a room of his own, decorated with rich forest greens, snakes and cold silver. He coughed, the sound echoing in the room as like everywhere else, the room had no carpets. He smiled. Echoing, that would suit him perfectly. The ideas of the night before, the thoughts he had fallen asleep to along with those that had being lying the in back of his mind since the summer came together.

Draco Malfoy was indeed the true king of Slytherin.

He pulled himself to his feet, standing on his bed. The hairs on his arms and legs stood up with the sudden contact to the morning air, the chill of autumn setting in. His skin, ever the deathly pale, basked in the morning light seeming to make him nothing less than an angel. He walked over to the window and shut it to the morning air, then quickly walking to his wardrobe and taking out his black boxers, black trousers and white shirt. He did not bother to fully do up the shirt, merely keeping some bottom buttons done up and sliding it over his head.

Barefoot he walked into the bathroom, padding lightly on the horrifyingly cold stone. His mirror was large with snakes writhing around it swallowing helpless virgins. He gelled back his hair, but it was now so long that it disobeyed and ran unruly, some strands falling back into his face. His lifeless silver eyes stared back at him through the mirror and he smiled. All good things to those who wait.

He strode out his bathroom, after quickly brushing his teeth and washing his face, down the staircase into the common room. It was quarter past seven in the morning. People would start heading down to breakfast at seven thirty. Good. He took his chair. Black leather chair, high backed with silver legs in the shape of snakes. It was a chair no one had dared sit in except the king of Slytherin, which Draco had become two years before his time.

He had first taken the chair in fifth year. The Slytherins in sixth and seventh year at the time had been a disgrace. In fact they still were. Only schemer in the lot of 7th year Slytherin was Zabini and Dumbledore had been correct in choosing the most powerful female. Lithliya Dremae was more powerful than any other 6th or 7th year girl.

The first to filter down from their rooms were two first year boys, a third year girl and then three second year girls. The higher up the school you were the more you slept in. The first years, who arrived first, looked at Malfoy sitting in the chair looking directly at them and gulped. The third year girl who came next automatically knew what it meant and sat herself at the back waiting patiently. The younger boys took a bit longer to figure out what was going on and had to wait until the three third year girls came down before realising they were to sit and shut up. The majority of the house was down by quarter to eight, all sitting in silence their eyes fixed on Draco.

Lithliya arrived, slowly gliding down the staircase from the head girls dorm, second highest in Slytherin. Her eyes landed on Draco and the silent house and she smiled. She climbed over the first years who had been booted out of seats to make way for the higher years and sat on the arm of the chair. Crabbe and Goyle, who had arrived five minutes earlier, were stood on either side of the King's chair. Zabini was the last to arrive, kicking some first years, who had not he common sense to realise that the best seats were reserved for the 7th years, out of a sofa before lying down upon it.

Malfoy took in the silence for a moment before nodding to himself and leaning forwards. "We told you at the beginning of this year things had changed." He spoke at his normal volume though addressing a quarter of Hogwarts student body. "We told you, it's changed." The younger years nodded. "But you haven't seen much of it have you? No. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, its about time we see about that change, isn't it?" Malfoy saw the gleam in Zabini's eyes as he said that.

"Slytherin has always been the house to beat. We stand alone against Gryffindor's, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. We always have. So we have to be stronger than them. But we haven't been have we? No we've been weak. Losing. Following orders from other who presume to know more than us." His voice was louder now, and smiles were playing on the Slytherins faces. "Well not anymore." He said and a deep cheer arose from his audience. He waited for them to quiet.

"Slytherin will stand strong. And we will stand together. All of you know the strength we have in groups, now think what we are together. Fuck Dumbledore, fuck Snape, fuck your parents, we're your family now. And we will fight for us, not them, us. We will fight." He finished it off to a tremendous cheer that echoed even to be heard as a dull noise in the Gryffindor common room.

With that Malfoy stood up, Lithliya smiling behind him, and swung round heading for the door. The entire body of Slytherin followed him as they strode through the corridors, engulfing any student that crossed their path. When they arrived at the Great Hall, a silence met them. Everyone stopped and watched as the smiling Slytherins swaggered in, Malfoy at their head, 6th years guarding the back. Even the staff watched as Malfoy took the head of the table and whispered one word to the Slytherins. Another cheer echoed off the walls before the Slytherin's tucked into their breakfasts, talking and laughing louder than any of the other houses combined.

--

Hermione nibbled at her toast, her eyes fixed, like most of the Gryffindors, on the Slytherin table. Ron, who sat opposite her, had left his breakfast, which was a first, to examine the Slytherin's in hope of finding some cause to their mirth. Hermione jumped as a thump came from beside her. She looked up to see Harry, sitting himself down next to her, his books being the thump. Harry's eyes were on the Slytherins.

"It's not right." Ron said from where he was still looking out to the Slytherins. He turned back and saw Harry. "Oh, there you are. Tell you what, the Slytherins have done something. If they were up their arses before they're now up to their stomachs." Hermione raised an eyebrow at this analogy though said nothing.

"I know." Harry said sighing. "I could hear the cheering from the common room." He examined Hermione carefully. "Where were you last night? You never turned up for dinner." Hermione's eyes widened and she turned back to her now cold toast.

"I, erm, had to do some work at the library." Hermione said her eyes not leaving the toast. Harry and Ron exchanged worried glances.

"I thought you said you looked in the library." Ron asked Harry before Harry could shush him. Hermione started and looked at Harry before her gaze dropped to the floor.

"Was Malfoy giving you hassle?" Harry asked watching every inch of the any of the face he could see for she had turned away and ducked her head so her hair covered most of it.

"It was nothing. I can ignore Malfoy after all these years." She said recovering as well as she hoped she could. "I was trying to get away, NEWTs are hard." She swallowed and Harry put his arm around her comfortingly before turning back to breakfast and the conversation to Quidditch.

Hermione leant gratefully on Harry, her mind going over what madness had happened the night before. She had stayed up late, all night in fact, going over what had happened. There must have been some spell, or something funny in the water. Neither of them had acted rationally. Hermione Granger would never trip Draco Malfoy up as a joke. Like the night when they had kissed. Something not quite right. Not quite sane.

A loud bout of laughter from the Slytherin table disturbed her thoughts and she shook herself vigorously from her wondering mind. Just at that moment owls came soaring in. She felt in her pocket for a couple of coins and was able to pay the owl just as it landed. She scanned the headlines in the Daily Prophet, but nothing interesting was said. More panics about the Dark Lord, more 'defence against He Who Must Not Be Named' and 'What can YOU do to help'.

"Second World War propaganda all over again." Hermione said not realising she had said it out loud. Ron looked at her as if she were mad, but Harry snorted softly into his juice whilst reading the headlines over her shoulder. His arm was still around her. It was great to have a friend like Harry.

Hermione allowed her mind to pass for a while. She closed her eyes and let her dreams betray her. This was not her best friends arm around her it was her boyfriend's. It was his care and protection than was for her and her alone, and when she looked up at him she could see in his pale blue eyes something that belied everything else about him... holy shit she was thinking of Malfoy.

She came back to reality with a bump in time to duck as a rather uncoordinated owl crashed into the table, rolling over itself before climbing to its feet and blinking. It shuffled over to Harry before holding out its leg. Harry deftly removed the parchment attached and unravelled the letter whilst the owl began eating his bacon. She didn't want to seem rude by reading over his shoulder, but she wanted to know who would use such an.... interesting owl.

"It's from Remus." Harry said smiling slightly, but a tinge of pain for Sirius crossed his face as he did. Harry read on for another minute or so whilst Hermione pointedly ignored Ron's rabid head movements, arm movements and kicks all directing her to read over his shoulder and tell him what it was about.

"He says," Harry said before stopping to watch Ron who was caught in the middle of performing a mime of reading over someone's shoulder.... to an outside observer it would seem he was looking down Lavender's top. After a pause Harry continued, "He says 'hope you're all fine. Glad to hear of no attacks. Enjoy the peace while it lasts.'" Harry concluded his eyes skipping over the majority of the text.

"And the rest of the letter." Hermione asked raising an eyebrow. Harry examined the eyebrow with a piercing look before glancing over to Malfoy, before replying.

"I'll tell you guys later."

--

Malfoy met his fellow Slytherins in the Slytherin common room as arranged. The whole house had been told not to enter or exit the Slytherin Dungeons during the hour of this meeting. The prefects and powerful 7th and 6th years sat around, lazing on the various couches. Malfoy was standing so his chair was empty. Lithliya was sitting on the sofa Zabini had been on earlier.

"With this change, with this new war, we're going to have to make some sacrifices." He squashed any hope any of them had of having another load of promises of glory thrown at them during this meeting. This was business. "First one will be no more Potty and Weasel. We are going to have enough problems with one enemy, lets not make it two. Least not yet." Sneers and sniggers came from the various couches. "They and we, for the moment, share an enemy. So apart from the necessary, like Longbottom turning his cauldron into a cow, leave them be."

"Two get some brains in your heads. Pay attention in class, especially Defence Against. You'll probably need that sooner than you'd like to think. Three get some connections. Zabini." A black head arose from behind a couch. "I heard you got links to the black market in Egypt. Send them a card. From us." Zabini smiled and nodded keenly. "Four keep your ears to the ground. Dumbledore's no fool, he knows we Slytherins won't ever be his willing hounds. No, so we have to get our own information. Though I should imagine that will be easier for us than those goody goodies. Five. We make a blood oath. All in Slytherin. Friday night, tomorrow. On the Quidditch Pitch at ten. Pass on the message to all the younger years."

They all rose to leave. "Zabini, stay. Crabbe, Goyle stay. You too." He pointed to a 6th year prefect. In the end left in the room were all the male prefects and Lithliya. She raised an eyebrow at Malfoy who smirked at her before taking his seat. "Right. Two things I have to say to you. Firstly is that we all know the tactics Voldemort used last year." A small shudder passed through the men at the name. "Buck up you fucking pussys. If you can't even say his name we may as well give up now." The boys shifted uncomfortably in the silence. "Keep an eye on your girls. Voldemort will know pretty shortly that we're against him. They're our easiest target."

"Secondly I want a list. A list of all the people you have in your section. Like Zabini has his territory over the fourth years, Crabbe and Goyle are looking after the second." There was a nod of consensus though Zabini gave an almost puzzled look. "You know why I am asking you to look out for them?" Zabini shook his head so did the other various prefects. "We need more of us. In three years time we'll be long gone from here and they'll be seventh years. If they are still about and still strong they'll be a great asset bringing in more and more Slytherins to us. And the girls. Well, we all know why we need the girls." Lithliya was glaring at him. He ignored her.

"I also want you to add to those lists anyone out of Slytherin you want to be yours. Like I have noticed you, Dethcous, have being keeping your eye on a 5th year Ravenclaw." Dethcous, the male 6th year prefect stiffened and keep his eyes beneath Malfoy's gaze. "Ah, no shame in it. She's pretty. Put her on your list along with your year, which you'll have precedence over, you'll be dandy. She'll not be looked at by any other male without your consent, she'll have the entirety of Slytherin looking out for her, and as far as they will be concerned, she's yours for as long as you want."

A chuckle passed round the Slytherins. Zabini was now smiling. "From any house? Griffindor or Slytherin as well?"

"Naturally." Draco purred leaning back into his chair. "I've even got Granger on my list." Small chuckles followed this as the prefects and powerful 6th and 7th years drifted out until Draco was alone with Lithliya.

"Granger?"

--

Review darlings! That's all I ask! Tune in next time to find out if; Malfoy's scheme works, Remus really did say anything of important in that letter, Hermione tells Harry or Ron what she was really doing, Hermione meets Draco again?! Tune in and find out!